#sunstride

"Quick..." Miraina whispered under her breath as she tiptoed past Reynald snoring in the reading chair. She had a brief thought to pick up and carry Reynald to bed so his neck would not be sore but the Jemanes could be such light sleepers. She didn't particularly want to wake Reynald when he had finally fallen asleep.

On the way past, every stair seemed determined to creak underneath her toes as she went downstairs.

"Easy..." Miraina was relying solely upon her vision to navigate the darkened kitchen. It was the lack of presence, however, that made the space feel colder and almost intimidating. She tried not to focus on those feelings. Just as the sun rose Guilbert would be up chopping vegetables into bulky but smaller pieces for the morning stew.

He loves stew, Miraina thought with a smile.

And Reynald would be sleepily humming a tune with a smile derived from knowing the tune in question had words of a bawdy nature.

Simply imagining such a morning made Miraina wish she had stayed upstairs to wait for the twins to wake. But sleeping on a cot on the floor was no good. She desperately desired some food in her belly to at least tire herself a little-

“Fallin' for you was the biggest mistake I ever made,” Miraina sighed while pushing Guilbert back down onto his bed and draping the quilted blanket back up to his chin.

His gasping breaths for air sounded awful.

The idiot could run across a seemingly endless span of field without tiring… but a Cyrodiil laden with snow and buffeted by wind left even Guilbert unable to withstand. They had all been sick at some point or another this Sun’s Dusk but Guilbert had taken the worst of the illnesses thus far.

With half of Chorrol also sick, Miraina had taken it upon herself to care for the Jemanes alone.

In truth, Reynald wasn't leaving Miraina to feel great about his recovery either given his current propensity for wandering around the house as if lost. But if that and his congested voice were the worst he was doing, then he was still better off than his twin. She would deal with him later!

"Sorry…" Guilbert croaked suddenly. "Didn't mean to worry you…"

Miraina's gaze softened. "You should save yer voice."

It was a stupid idea. A simpleton's manner of idea. She shouldn't touch Guilbert while he was so sickly! She did so anyway. Miraina cupped his face, her normally hot hands feeling lukewarm against Guilbert's flushed face. This was too much alike to when they had been thrown from the Oblivion Gate; Miraina dug her fingers very lightly into his cheek.

With Miraina no longer assisting him in the search around the copse, Guilbert decided he'd leave the nirnroots he had already gathered with her. He waded out of the muddy water and immediately became aware that Miraina's eyes had never left him as he joined her under the shade of a tree.

"Did Jesan tell you how many he needed?" He smiled as he handed Miraina the two faintly trilling plants.

Something in Miraina's expression unfocused and she swallowed a gulp Guilbert hadn't noticed her taking before speaking. "He said 'as many as you can find' which… if we only found three total, that's three more than anyone else's found."

"Hm." Guilbert frowned. "Let's take a rest, then we can venture to the next spot. The copse is small enough that I think we have found all the nirnroot we are going to find here. Does that plan sound good to you?"

Miraina's eyes looked him up and down again after he had spoken. He wanted to say something but truthfully Miraina had almost always acted this strange since they had met. She liked to stare at people, Guilbert told himself, because she was unused to having trustworthy company around.

Those who made their living as bandits had to be keen and suspicious or they ended up with an axe or dagger in their back.

"Didn't know ya had a scar there." Her voice sounded choked, dry. She swallowed. "Er, yeah, sorry. Sounds good. Don't forget yer shirt and shoes, Guil."

"Scar?" Guilbert blinked. "I- oh, I know which one you're talking about." He awkwardly smiled and slid his trousers down a bit on his right side to better expose the thin, pale scar running along above the beltline to underneath at his upper hip. "I wish I could say I had a tremendous adventure to tell like the scars on my back but… this was only youthful hubris."

Recalling the memory made Guilbert feel a bit heavier. "I was foolish and wanted to challenge my father's fearful perceptions of the world."

Miraina only grunted.

"So I thought to play with a sword as though it were a toy— my favorite thing to do was spin it around. I was quite good at doing so too—!" Guilbert pulled the lowered trouser side back up and felt the intensity of Miraina's gaze lessening.

"Until ya got hurt." She said, eyes darting to his. "Guilbert…"

"Spare your sympathies; I was being a fool back then. I'm lucky I was in town around other people when I sliced myself this badly." Pausing, Guilbert would smile. "Sorry for exposing myself. I didn't think before—"

"Oh, oh no yer fine!" Miraina's voice pitched higher suddenly and he could see her face reddening. "A-all for tellin' a story, right?" Before he could speak again, she suddenly pulled her own blouse off. "I got plenty of scars too!"

"Ah?" It was Guilbert's turn to panic a bit.

"I got this one makin' a bet with Hrovir, an' this one from protectin' Ysuha'Ko in a fight… Actually a lotta these are from takin' hits for others in fights…" Miraina hesitated only for a moment before beginning to point at a scar on her shoulder. "This one's from a guard's blade in Bruma after we botched the heist—"

Laughing warmly, Guilbert waved a hand to interrupt. "You don't need to make me feel better about my own scars! But I feel I understand you better now."

Miraina bunched her arms up close in a way that covered her torso. "Ya do?"

"As I surmised, you're kind." Guilbert smiled. He felt a sort of confidence unlike anything before as he watched her turn shy once more. "And you stare at me a lot. Why is that?"

"You…" Miraina grumbled. "Never ya mind. Next time I won't tell ya if there's a bug or not."

"You didn't tell me the first time!" Guilbert laughed again.